Griffith College LLB Degree (Irish Law)

Darragh29

Hi Folks,

Am just about to start year 1 of this course (part-time), have heard nothing but good reports about the college and the course above and am happy enough that I've picked the right course and the right college. Just wondering would anyone be able to give some advice on how they found balancing work and this course as well, assuming a regular 9-5 Mon-Fri job??? At the moment, I'm starting this course and am not working, have a fair few quid put aside but want to start working again ASAP so I'm not chewing up hard earned savings... Any advice??? I've been told that this part-time course is more intense than it's full-time counterpart in GCD, has more mature students on the course and you'd have to do a fair bit of studying and research at home to keep up with the pace of the course as due to it being part-time, more material has to be squeezed into the 3 years. Please feel free to let me know how it went for anyone out there who is doing this course, has done it or anyone who might be starting it as well......

Monkeyboots

Hi I have just completed the LLB part time. Graduating this Nov..

The part time course is intensive but its up to yourself - if you are serious about doing well you will need to put the hours in. If you are reasonably smart and do the bare miminum you'll get by but dont expect anything higher than a PASS grade degree.

Overall I felt that the lecturers (bar one who shall remain nameless) are excellent particularly Patton for Criminal law..most of them lecture at the Inns too and are very well informed.

Best of luck if you do decide to do it.

Must say I am very happy to be finished, 3 nights a week puts a severe dent in your social life and think you'll have the weekends free - you'll be doing 8 assignments a year plus 2 lots of exam.There is more assessment here than in Trinity or UCD!!

Enjoy
Monkeyboots

Ham Slicer

I'm doing 3rd yr. I agree I think Griffith is great...as for Ciaran...yea, great lecturer ..can I also say Mark O'Riordan and Val Corbett (brilliant).

I would recommend Griffith to anyone....if you want to do the LLB..

conky_05

Darragh29 wrote:

I've been told that this part-time course is more intense than it's full-time counterpart in GCD......

I'm in GCD also, buyt not doing Law. I'm doing a part time business degree. I'ts more intense than it's full time counterpart as at the end of the day we get the same degree, but we have less hours per week. i.e more study outside college. I'd imagin it's the same case with the law degree.

EdgarAllenPoo

I've been waiting to go there for ages, I ended up in Portobello last year and hated it so I left and have been working to pay for the three year's fees so I can start next year. The fees went up by €450 per year this year, I wonder if the trend will continue.

Charlie

Monkeyboots wrote:

Overall I felt that the lecturers (bar one who shall remain nameless) are excellent
Monkeyboots

i'm in 3rd year LLB fulltimea nd would love to know who this is. By the way Patton isn't a patch on Langwelner, that man is a hoot.

EdgarAllenPoo

How is first year in GCD, do you study legal systems all year? When are you given you first assignments?

Charlie

GDM wrote:

How is first year in GCD, do you study legal systems all year? When are you given you first assignments?

You do study Legal Sytems for the first half of the term (Sept-Jan) and that is then replaced with Legal Reseacrh & Writing (Jan-June). Every oter subject e.g Contract, Tort, Constitutional, you study for both semesters.

You get assignments in the middle of each semester along with exams at the end of each semester. Your semester 1 assignments are generally given to you around the 2nd week in October and you have to hand the first one in, generally, in the 1st week of November.

When I was in 1st year we had assignments and exams in all 4 subjects but I have a feeling now that they don't examine you or take an assignment in Legal Systms. Its not a big deal though cause its such an easy subject that even if you do have assignment & exam in it, you need to be seriously slacking in order to fail it. In fact, it is easy enough to get 2-1's in all your subjects in first year by just putting in a little effort.

I would thoroughly recommend the LLb course in Grifffith. The lecturers are all very personal, you can approach them without hesitance and they are all highly regarded in their respective fields. Also, the college is coming along nicely now with the new bar and restaurant (which is the best sudent setup i've been to in Dublin) and with the new academic buildings.

Hope this helps.


p.s Griffith rules, Portobello sucks!!!!

EdgarAllenPoo

Right, I thought it was a bit weird in Portobello to get the first assignment(legal systems which was studied for the whole year) two weeks after starting the course. If that adds to part of your end of year grade how are you supposed to be able to get a decent mark after two weeks?

And yes Portobello is a bag of donkey clangers.

Rosita

Just curious about the hours involved in the part-time LLB in Griffith.

Someone said three night a week. Which nights and what time do lectures begin and end?

EdgarAllenPoo

As of last year the part-time course is run on Monday night from 6.30pm-9.30pm(constitutional law), Wednesday from 6pm-10.15pm(tort and contract) and Thursday from 6.30pm-9.30pm(legal systems and legal writing and research).

Rosita

GDM wrote:

As of last year the part-time course is run on Monday night from 6.30pm-9.30pm(constitutional law), Wednesday from 6pm-10.15pm(tort and contract) and Thursday from 6.30pm-9.30pm(legal systems and legal writing and research).

Thanks for that. 6pm-10.15 on Wednesday is one hell of a long night isn't it? But I suppose better that than a fourth night.

md99

Interested in this course myself actually, what are the fees?

EdgarAllenPoo

The fees are €5300 a year.

md99

GDM wrote:

The fees are €5300 a year.

Hate to sound like an idiot but...

Is it worth it?

I'm seriously considering the full-time LLB in Cork in the event that I don't get the points for Law at UCC or UCD, if I don't get the points I will most likely come close to getting them, so would it make much of a difference in terms of a degree compared to the other two? In terms of standard of lecturing, staff, course etc?

Rosita

md99 wrote:

Hate to sound like an idiot but...

Is it worth it?

I'm seriously considering the full-time LLB in Cork in the event that I don't get the points for Law at UCC or UCD, if I don't get the points I will most likely come close to getting them, so would it make much of a difference in terms of a degree compared to the other two? In terms of standard of lecturing, staff, course etc?

This has been broached on another thread ("LLB V BCL") and the answer as far as I can make it out seems to be "no".

I cannot speak for Law but from my experience of one state university anyway it would surprise me if private colleges were not leaner, more efficient and more effective. It seems to be the case in industry where private industry knocks the socks off public operations, and I would be surprised if this trend was bucked in education. These people are probably better/as good simply because they have to be if they want people to pay five grand a year.

But I suppose ultimately you have to be happy with the answer to that question yourself as perception regarding the lack of tradition associated with this college (people are slow to change) seems to be a factor with some people. The course is an approved course with the Kings Inns so I think you can take it that it is comprehensive.